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Inside the front living room of a stately home on Rachael St. in Rosedale, more than a dozen young women and men sit in the warm glow of several ornate lamps, listening with rapt attention to the guest of the evening.

On this particular Thursday, a vibrant, smiling woman, born in Kuwait and now entering family medicine residency at the University of Toronto, sits on a couch alongside a Harvard Business School graduate, the son of two immigrants from the Caribbean island of Antigua. Across the tiny room perches a petite, Yale University-educated woman hailing from Addis Ababa, the capital city in the heart of Ethiopia. Their guest, Jamaican-born Order of Ontario recipient and former Liberal cabinet minister Mary Anne Chambers, recounts intimate stories about her decades-long career.

Thought-provoking gatherings are a regular occurrence for this congregation of young intellectuals, who are flying under the radar of the outside world but hope to change it for the better.

Bruce Alexander calls them the “Shadow Cabinet.”

A half-century older than most of the faces in the room, Alexander — mentor to these young men and women — sits among them, his eyes fixed on Chambers as she doles out advice from her years in business and government. “I had no sense I couldn’t do whatever I set out to do,” Chambers tells the eager faces lining the room.

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It’s a message Alexander agrees with.

In 2010, the retired Toronto lawyer formed the women’s branch of this little-known mentorship group featuring accomplished students and professionals from diverse academic, ethnic and religious backgrounds.

The group grew organically and now includes more than 20 women now living in Toronto and cities around the world, who gather for etiquette sessions, public speaking seminars, trips to the theatre and art galleries, and other outings for personal and professional development. Two years ago, a men’s group followed, and now includes eight members of similar diversity.

Members have met leaders from sectors across Ontario, such as Chambers; Chaviva Hošek, previous CEO of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research; Governor General David Johnston; and Donna Scott, former chair of the Canada Council for the Arts. Many say the connections Alexander provides have opened doors for them that might have remained shut otherwise — and his motivating mentorship helps, too.

On Thursday afternoon, Alexander, a part-time adjudicator with the Ontario government, bounds in the door to his other “office,” clad in a red tie and dark brown suit. It’s the Tim Hortons near University Ave. and Dundas St., lined with cozy booths well-suited to his frequent mentorship meetings.

“We have to actively work to make sure the diversity we see on our subways and in our universities is reflected in the boardrooms and in the corners of power in our institutions,” the animated, silver-haired 77-year-old says.

Mentoring new immigrants and minority youth has been Alexander’s passion for 40 years — arguably his true vocation — alongside decades of experience in the government and private sector, and his family life as a husband and father. (Alexander’s son is federal Immigration Minister Chris Alexander.)

Former prime minister Joe Clark is among the leaders who have been introduced to the Shadow Cabinet members. He says he’s known Alexander since the early 1960s, when they were both in first-year law at Dalhousie University. “He’s always been a great, exuberant supporter of diversity,” Clark says.

Many people who grew up here have access to support networks and career possibilities from family and friends. Others don’t. “We’re trying to replicate that for them,” Alexander explains of the Shadow Cabinet’s goal.

When asked why more people haven’t heard about his mentorship groups, Alexander grins broadly, his blue eyes sparkling.

“That’s why we called it a Shadow Cabinet,” he whispers.

The name is a nod to the groups’ covert nature as well as the political concept whereby an opposition party selects members to serve as critics in various portfolios. They’re “leaders in waiting,” Alexander says.

Students he began mentoring in 2010 have gone on to careers in public service, law, activism, and medicine. Having seen their success, he’s now bringing the group into the public eye.

Safiah Chowdhury, 26, an Oxford University graduate and Studio Y fellow at MaRS Discovery District, leads the women’s branch. She met Alexander several years ago during undergraduate studies at Queen’s University. Chowdhury, who wears a hijab, was president of the student government at the time and says she endured a slew of racist, misogynistic and Islamophobic taunts from her peers.

Alexander had been president of the same student government exactly 50 years before and was back at Queen’s for a reunion; he quickly offered to be Chowdhury’s mentor.

“It’s difficult to explain to people how I know Bruce,” Chowdhury adds. “This older white man who is really well-connected and, without any strings attached, wants to open up his networks for career development to all these miscellaneous individuals.”

“He’s generous for reasons I can’t really comprehend, from a rational perspective,” echoes Colin Lynch, 30, a Harvard Business School graduate and men’s Shadow Cabinet member whose parents emigrated from Antigua in the 1960s.

Sitting at that downtown Tim Hortons, where almost every mentee says they met Alexander for their first mentoring session, the Shadow Cabinet founder can barely contain his enthusiasm.

One day, perhaps, these young people could be leaders in Canada, he muses. Meantime, Alexander hopes others follow his lead, building bridges and making connections for those who normally lack them.

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